Avtar Properties

I can only imagine that Avtar have been offering discounted rent for positive reviews as they are the worst company I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. I lived with them for a year, during which time I had to deal with a rat infestation (the road we lived on is known to have rat problem which we were warned about by neighbours on arrival, yet it took them 7 months and multiple letters from environmental health to fill in the holes in the walls). We also had to live without heating or hot water over the winter as they ignored our requests to have it fixed, telling us that it was «being dealt with» for over 5 weeks. I ended up contacting my local councillor about it.
Avtar tried to blame the rat problem with us (despite neighbours and the environmental health leaving the blame on the holes in the side of the house) and would turn up at random times with a camera to try and catch us out as «dirty» but left after seeing that the house was actually clean (hence actually eventually filling the gaps in). These werent cute little rats they were MASSIVE. The only benefit was that I think they ate spiders (they also ate entire loaves of bread).
At the time there was a Facebook group dedicated to them which had one person claim that they were actually left living in a house with a hole in the roof.
Dont be fooled by the nice bloke who shows you round, as soon as you sign the lease, if you have the misfortune to live in one of the houses that they actually own then get ready to get used to squalor.
We also had problems with overflowing drains (one toilet out of order entirely and the other when flushed flooded the downstairs one) and a mould problem in my bedroom that was so bad that I ended up having to take a month off work with chest infections (another thing that environmental health contacted them about — they probably had them on speed dial). I ended up scraping as much of it off as I can but was left feeling «below par» for a long time and having to take a lot of time off work. They eventually dealt with the mould problem by painting over it. T
hey also refused to let us terminate our contracts despite having found people to replace us and 2 girls ended up paying rent for the year on 2 properties as they couldnt stand it any more.
Bare in mind that I used to use Leeds Student Homes — a company so bad they ended up being featured on Watchdog, you can imagine how appalling Avatar must be as I view them as considerably worse. They own a lot of houses and I am sure that if nothing ever goes wrong with them or they have a different owner then you’ll see them as nice enough but heaven forbid anything goes wrong with the property.
It all sounds ridiculous in hindsight and I laugh and refer to it as the paid squat now but at the time we were people in our early 20s who had no option but to carry on living there. At the time it seemed like a great deal at £40 a week but we later found out it was usually rented as a 3 bed anyway — probably due to the mould problem in 2 of the rooms.

Surprised to see so many bad reviews of Avtar, we’re renting a house from them this year and so far I’ve had no issues with them as an agency, and after 5 years of living in Leeds I’ve used some pretty appalling ones (Park Lane, A-​Team, UK Pads and Rent Here especially, stay well away from all of these).
We left it very late house hunting (2 days before we moved out of our last place) and signed for a house with these guys. Firstly we got a great deal, negotiating the rent down from £65 to £50 per week on a huge 5 bed house for 3 people! and secondly they went out of their way to help us get moved in on the day that we signed, without even asking for reference checks or guarantor forms from anyone.
Admittedly we have had to have quite a lot of work done on the house, but we realised this when we moved in, we were more bothered about getting a cheap spacious house than it being perfect and pristine. gave Avtar a checklist of all the jobs we wanted doing on the house, and they have sorted everything out for us. Some jobs have taken longer than others, you just have to nag them a bit and leave messages in the office every day to see what the progress is. People forget these guys own and manage something like 900 houses so you can’t expect everything to be perfect straight away. If you get onto them a bit about repairs, and are prepared to haggle a bit over the price of the house, you can get yourself a good deal.
Honestly much better than some of the dreadful agencies in Leeds, worth a look.

Have to say VERY surprised after reading the reviews below as I have had the most pleasurable experience dealing with Avtar as my landlords. And believe me I have dealt with some cowboys in my time on the renting ladder!
Very helpful in finding me the right property and when there were maintenance things to be done they were sorted very quickly and efficiently.
Would definitely recommend to students coming to Leeds. A great property company.
5 stars all round

When I was in Leeds 2 years back I was badly in need of a good student accommodation near by Hyde Park, fortunately I came across this website and got exactly I was looking for, a well furnished student accommodation. In spite of having a low budget I got a very decent place to live. I will recommend avtar properties to all my friends and family out their in Leeds.

Well, in my renewed efforts to find somewhere to live i turned to Avtar.
Unlike previous experiences iv had recently, this was distinctly pleasent and we had a lovely guy show us round a whole bunch of different places scattered around Hyde Park and Headingley. A lot more than i had bargained for but it was nice to see what the same money could get on different roads.
We were driven around flat to flat by Prashad who was a really nice guy and knew everyones name in all the houses we saw which was a really nice little touch i thought.
I found my dream apartment, but alas as im bound by the student July — June Contracts i couldnt move fast enough to secure it; mega sad times!
They are really helpful and friendly and Prashad bent over backwards to try and get me the place i wanted but landlords are interested in money alone rather than quality of tenant.
The reason i cant give out a 4 star is the £100 signing fee, i have never paid one before and that amount of money for me seems a little too capitalistic for my liking.
Id certainly recommend these guys to anyone i liked!